Responding to "Critics and Detractors" of Israel and It's Supporters - 2019 AIPAC Flashback

In 2019: AIPAC CEO, Howard Kohr addressed the annual AIPAC Policy Conference focusing on "Critics and Detractors" of Israel and supporters of Israel - and how the Pro-Israel Movement needed to respond

Over the years, AIPAC published numerous articles about anti-Israeli activities in the United States. AIPAC published a 1983 Monograph about “The Campaign to Discredit Israel” in the United States and another “The AIPAC College Guide: Exposing the Anti-Israel Campaign on Campus”

In my time as AIPAC’s Director of Policy Analysis; I wrote a number of articles on this subject for AIPAC’s Near East Report focusing on the actions and views of various organizations. And spoke about the topic at various AIPAC Policy Conferences. I also wrote a longer piece for Middle East Forum “Israel’s American Detractors - Back Again’.

Six years ago, then AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr addressed the March 2019 AIPAC Policy Conference with his central focus on the “Detractors and Critics of Israel and the pro-Israel community, and how AIPAC was going to respond.

[Kohr’s speech was prior to AIPAC’s decision in 2021 to establish a pro-Israel AIPAC PAC and engage in political endorsements and donations]

Below: Excerpts from Howard Kohr’s 2019 address regarding this “Campaign” against Israel and its supporters. Can view Video of Howard Kohr’s complete March 2019, AIPAC Policy Conference Address


”…But today I want to talk to you about our mission and our rights as pro-Israel activists and as proud American citizens. Because today things are different. We are being challenged in a way that is new and far more aggressive.

We have always had critics and detractors. And some have been particularly harsh. But today, today, they are emboldened and energized. And their false claims are taken at face value by new and larger audiences.

Those claims are not meant to inform or engage in legitimate debate.

They are meant to isolate us and demonize us. So they can undermine America’s historic support for Israel.

Look at what they say:

They say you can’t be a good Campus leader and a supporter of Israel.

They say you can’t be a good Progressive and be a supporter of Israel.

And now, now they are saying you can’t even be a good American and be a supporter of Israel.

This isn’t about having normal policy discussions and debates.

This is defamation masquerading as discourse. And they are trying to silence each of us.

The scurrilous charge of dual loyalty is a signal and that signal, amplified by today’s social media is now empowering people who long opposed our cause, our movement and frankly everything we have built.

Now we see the intense hatred of the Jewish state is creeping from the margins toward the center of our politics.

Places where political coalitions are built places where this nation’s leaders gather , debate and make decisions.

These attacks on all of us are painful. Painful precisely because the other side is trying to isolate us from our friends, our neighbors and the other causes and coalitions we care so deeply about.

Say this much. They have our attention. But know this much; we will respond.

We understand the stakes all too well.

Their designs are plain to see. They want to starve Israel of America’s support. They want America on the sidelines. They want the Jewish State vulnerable and alone.

For America’s sake. We cannot let that happen. America needs a strong Israel. And we have history and the facts on our side. Israel has always been a loyal and reliable friend to America…We act as citizens should in any democracy…..

….Now it’s tempting to leave the argument at that. To say to our harshest critics you’re wrong about us. You’re wrong about Israel and you

But that’s not enough. That can’t be our only answer. Our answer is what we do next?

We need to make the pro-Israel movement even more effective and bigger… We need to act with greater sense of urgency. And in some very specific ways…
…

There have been others who attacked us who attacked our right to be heard.
Each time we have responded as citizens should. We mobilized, we made our case, we made our movement even stronger

That’s what must happen now.

Israel’s antagonists have decided to mount a political assault on us. In return they must get a political response.

That response must be large. It must be sweeping. And it must define our movement for years to come.

Our detractors think we are vulnerable. That we will fold when we are pushed.
But they don’t know what we are made of.

So yes it’s true there are challenges ahead. And some days it seems that the only thing that is permanent are the adversaries……

So this is how we will answer our critics:

We will not stop. We will not stop.

And when they tell us to step back we move forward.

And when they try to silence us we speak up.

When they tell us to sit down. We stand up….We stand up. We stand up

Jewish Journal - “AIPAC CEO Howard Kohr: Stand Up to Anti-Israel Critics”